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This is a drawing of the Galileo probe exploring the environment of Jupiter.
Click on image for full sizeImage from: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Can there be Life in the Environment of Jupiter?

Jupiter's atmospheric environment is one of strong gravity, high pressure, strong winds, from 225 miles per hour to 1000 miles per hour, and cold temperatures of -270 degrees to +32 degrees (freezing temperature). These winds make it hard for life forms to have "peace and quiet".

The region where it is 32 degrees sounds manageable, but where the temperature is 32 degrees, the pressure is about the same as it would be if one were a couple miles below the sea on Earth, and is probably within Jupiter's liquid region. The air of Jupiter is definitely a region that is well below freezing temperatures!

In the atmosphere there are at least three known cloud decks of ammonia, ammonia hydrosulfide, and water, with perhaps sizable condensed droplets. Moreover there is energy from lightning, ultraviolet light, and charged particles.

Jupiter's interior possesses an environment of pressures as great as three million times the sea-level pressure on earth, and temperatures as high as 10,000 degrees.

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